Capturing and presenting audience response at scale

ABSTRACT

One example method includes receiving a plurality of responses during a time period, the plurality of responses each provided by one of a plurality of participants in a video conference hosted by a video conference provider, sampling the plurality of responses to identify a plurality of response characteristics, and then generating a consolidated response based at least in part on the plurality of response characteristics. The example method additionally includes causing the consolidated response to be output to at least one of the plurality of participants.

FIELD

The present application generally relates to video conferencing and morespecifically relates to capturing and presenting audience response atscale.

BACKGROUND

Videoconferencing has become a common way for people to meet as a group,but without being at the same physical location. Participants can beinvited to a video conference meeting, join from their personalcomputers or smartphones, and are able to see and hear each other andconverse largely as they would during an in-person group meeting orevent. The advent of user-friendly video conferencing software hasenabled teams to work collaboratively despite being dispersed around thecountry or the world. It has also enabled meeting planners to allowvirtual attendance of meetings.

Attending virtual meetings can be more convenient and less expensivethan attending in-person meetings. However, video conference providerswho create and host the infrastructure for such events may sometimesface challenges unique to the virtual environment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated into and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate one or more certain examples and,together with the description of the example, serve to explain theprinciples and implementations of the certain examples.

FIGS. 1-3 show example systems for capturing and presenting audienceresponse at scale;

FIG. 4 shows an example GUI for capturing and presenting audienceresponse at scale;

FIG. 5 shows an example method for capturing and presenting audienceresponse at scale; and

FIG. 6 shows an example computing device suitable for use with systemsand methods for capturing and presenting audience response at scale.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

These illustrative examples are mentioned not to limit or define thescope of this disclosure, but rather to provide examples to aidunderstanding thereof. Illustrative examples are discussed in theDetailed Description, which provides further description. Advantagesoffered by various examples may be further understood by examining thisspecification.

Examples are described herein in the context of systems and methods forcapturing and presenting audience response at scale. Those of ordinaryskill in the art will realize that the following description isillustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting.Reference will now be made in detail to implementations of examples asillustrated in the accompanying drawings. The same reference indicatorswill be used throughout the drawings and the following description torefer to the same or like items.

In the interest of clarity, not all of the routine features of theexamples described herein are shown and described. It will, of course,be appreciated that in the development of any such actualimplementation, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be madein order to achieve the developer's specific goals, such as compliancewith application- and business-related constraints, and that thesespecific goals will vary from one implementation to another and from onedeveloper to another.

Various examples are described for capturing and presenting audienceresponse at scale. One example method includes receiving a plurality ofresponses during a time period, the plurality of responses each providedby one of a plurality of participants in a video conference hosted by avideo conference provider, sampling the plurality of responses toidentify a plurality of response characteristics, and then generating aconsolidated response based at least in part on the plurality ofresponse characteristics. The example method additionally includescausing the consolidated response to be output to at least one of theplurality of participants.

One example system includes a communications interface; a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium; and one or more processors communicativelycoupled to the communications interface and the non-transitorycomputer-readable medium, the one or more processors configured toexecute processor-executable instructions stored in the non-transitorycomputer-readable medium to receive a plurality of responses during atime period, the plurality of responses each provided by one of aplurality of participants in a video conference hosted by a videoconference provider, sample the plurality of responses to identify aplurality of response characteristics, generate a consolidated responsebased at least in part on the plurality of response characteristics, andcause the consolidated response to be output to at least one of theplurality of participants.

One example non-transitory computer-readable medium comprisingprocessor-executable instructions configured to cause one or moreprocessors to receive a plurality of responses during a time period, theplurality of responses each provided by one of a plurality ofparticipants in a video conference hosted by a video conferenceprovider, sample the plurality of responses to identify a plurality ofresponse characteristics, generate a consolidated response based atleast in part on the plurality of response characteristics, and causethe consolidated response to be output to at least one of the pluralityof participants.

In one example system for hosting a large virtual event, such as awebinar, responses and interactions that typically occur in a physicalenvironment are captured. A response may include actions such asapplause or the roar of the crowd. The response of a participant in avirtual event can be captured by the user's device, such as a laptop orsmartphone. In a large virtual event, the client may captures hundredsor even thousands or responses simultaneously.

In the example system, the responses are each transmitted to a videoconference provider for processing. In other example systems, thesoftware for processing the responses may be present in client softwareor at a third-party processing facility. In the example system, once thevideo conference provider receives the plurality of responses from thevirtual attendees, the video conference provider combines the responsesand then presents them to, for instance, the presenter.

For example, a user clapping is captured by the client's device. Theclap might be captured in any number of ways. For instance, in oneexample, a microphone attached to or embedded in the client device maycapture the response. In another example, the response is captured by acamera in communication with the device. A previously-trained machinelearning model can then be used to recognize the response based onvarious characteristics of the response. For example, a clap might beidentified and then sorted by the frequency of the clapping action.Responses from each of the plurality of participants can be captured,identified, and sorted in a similar manner.

Once the reactions have all been captured, a single consolidatedresponse can then be generated. Consolidating the response by includecombining the plurality of responses into a single more coherentresponse. For instance, combining the captured responses together mightresult in an incoherent, noisy signal that does not accurately reflectthe audience reaction as a whole and at scale. However, by processingeach reaction and layering it, a unique representation of the responsescan be presented. The presentation of the consolidated response may takethe form of either a visual or auditory output.

In the example system, in the case of a plurality of claps by variousmeeting attendees, the system generates a unique applause by layeringthe different clap input signals with their different timing, both inrelation to one another and in terms of the frequency of the clapsthemselves. Such layering can create a representation of how thecombined responses would be experienced in a shared space. For instance,if all the virtual attendees were part of a crowd in a large conferencespace, each attendee's clap can be layered with all the other claps tosound like the combined applause would sound in a shared physical space.In some example systems, the attendee's response is muted from the videoconference feed but is captured nonetheless. In this way, the actualresponse does not interfere with the generated consolidated response.

In some such example systems, the captured signals are combined intosubgroupings and used to create different representations. For instance,such sub grouping may be used to account for spatial differences. Forexample, in a hybrid event in which some participants are physicallypresent and others are attending virtually, if a small remote group wasresponding that was only visible on the left hand side of the stage,their applause could only come from speakers on the left side of thestage and the same could be done for those observable on the right side.Therefore, audience interaction that is spatial in nature can beachieved.

In some example systems, audience response signals are used as a form ofscoring or voting within a session. Such systems may be used during liveevents or during pre-recorded events. For example, in one such system,the audience responses are scored and then used to gauge the amount of“energy” of an audience attending a particular host's event and may beused with other such scores to determine a typical score typicallyassociated with a particular host's events. In another example system,such scoring could be used in conjunction with timestamps to determinehighlights of a particular session to help with the automatic creationof a highlight reel. Such systems may store an identifier of the virtualattendee with the response or may anonymize the attendee's response,thereby protecting the privacy of the individual.

Such systems provide numerous advantages over conventional videoconferencing system. In conventional systems for hosting large virtualevents, audience response and interaction is typically much more limitedthat would be true in a physical environment. This limitation hascreated a challenge for performers and presenters as well as attendeessince the sense of communal participation and response is missing. Inconventional systems, the simple act of clapping on a video conferencedoes not scale since the sounds often will redirect focus and an upperlimit of participant's audio is hits where distribution and mixing isnot possible. And alternatives, such as emojis and other technologysolutions, tend to be unnatural. In contrast, example systems asdescribed herein provide a more natural, consolidated response, whichprovides a presenter with an improved sense of the mood of the crowd. Inaddition, capturing, combining, and presenting such responses allows apresenter to identify particularly important, meaningful, or engagingelements of a presentation. Similarly, by consolidating the responses,individual attendees may feel more connected to other virtual attendeesdespite not being physically together.

This illustrative example is given to introduce the reader to thegeneral subject matter discussed herein and the disclosure is notlimited to this example. The following sections describe variousadditional non-limiting examples and examples of systems and methods forcapturing and presenting audience response at scale.

Referring now to FIG. 1 , FIG. 1 shows an example system 100 thatprovides videoconferencing functionality to various client devices. Thesystem 100 includes a video conference provider 110 that is connected tomultiple communication networks 120, 130, through which various clientdevices 140-180 can participate in video conferences hosted by the videoconference provider 110. For example, the video conference provider 120can be located within a private network to provide video conferencingservices to devices within the private network, or it can be connectedto a public network, e.g., the internet, so it may be accessed byanyone. Some examples may even provide a hybrid model in which a videoconference provider 120 may supply components to enable a privateorganization to host private internal video conferences or to connectits system to the video conference provider 120 over a public network.

The system optionally also includes one or more user identity providers,e.g., user identity provider 115, which can provide user identityservices to users of the client devices 140-160 and may authenticateuser identities of one or more users to the video conference provider110. In this example, the user identity provider 115 is operated by adifferent entity than the video conference provider 110, though in someexamples, they may be the same entity.

Video conference provider 110 allows clients to create videoconferencemeetings (or “meetings”) and invite others to participate in thosemeetings as well as perform other related functionality, such asrecording the meetings, generating transcripts from meeting audio,manage user functionality in the meetings, enable text messaging duringthe meetings, create and manage breakout rooms from the main meeting,etc. FIG. 2 , described below, provides a more detailed description ofthe architecture and functionality of the video conference provider 110.

Meetings in this example video conference provider 110 are provided invirtual “rooms” to which participants are connected. The room in thiscontext is a construct provided by a server that provides a common pointat which the various video and audio data is received before beingmultiplexed and provided to the various participants. While a “room” isthe label for this concept in this disclosure, any suitablefunctionality that enables multiple participants to participate in acommon videoconference may be used. Further, in some examples, and asalluded to above, a meeting may also have “breakout” rooms. Suchbreakout rooms may also be rooms that are associated with a “main”videoconference room. Thus, participants in the main videoconferenceroom may exit the room into a breakout room, e.g., to discuss aparticular topic, before returning to the main room. The breakout roomsin this example are discrete meetings that are associated with themeeting in the main room. However, to join a breakout room, aparticipant must first enter the main room. A room may have any numberof associated breakout rooms according to various examples.

To create a meeting with the video conference provider 110, a user maycontact the video conference provider 110 using a client device 140-180and select an option to create a new meeting. Such an option may beprovided in a webpage accessed by a client device 140-160 or clientapplication executed by a client device 140-160. For telephony devices,the user may be presented with an audio menu that they may navigate bypressing numeric buttons on their telephony device. To create themeeting, the video conference provider 110 may prompt the user forcertain information, such as a date, time, and duration for the meeting,a number of participants, a type of encryption to use, whether themeeting is confidential or open to the public, etc. After receiving thevarious meeting settings, the video conference provider may create arecord for the meeting and generate a meeting identifier and, in someexamples, a corresponding meeting password or passcode (or otherauthentication information), all of which meeting information isprovided to the meeting host.

After receiving the meeting information, the user may distribute themeeting information to one or more users to invite them to the meeting.To begin the meeting at the scheduled time (or immediately, if themeeting was set for an immediate start), the host provides the meetingidentifier and, if applicable, corresponding authentication information(e.g., a password or passcode). The video conference system theninitiates the meeting and may admit users to the meeting. Depending onthe options set for the meeting, the users may be admitted immediatelyupon providing the appropriate meeting identifier (and authenticationinformation, as appropriate), even if the host has not yet arrived, orthe users may be presented with information indicating the that meetinghas not yet started or the host may be required to specifically admitone or more of the users.

During the meeting, the participants may employ their client devices140-180 to capture audio or video information and stream thatinformation to the video conference provider 110. They also receiveaudio or video information from the video conference provider 210, whichis displayed by the respective client device 140 to enable the varioususers to participate in the meeting.

At the end of the meeting, the host may select an option to terminatethe meeting, or it may terminate automatically at a scheduled end timeor after a predetermined duration. When the meeting terminates, thevarious participants are disconnected from the meeting and they will nolonger receive audio or video streams for the meeting (and will stoptransmitting audio or video streams). The video conference provider 110may also invalidate the meeting information, such as the meetingidentifier or password/passcode.

To provide such functionality, one or more client devices 140-180 maycommunicate with the video conference provider 110 using one or morecommunication networks, such as network 120 or the public switchedtelephone network (“PSTN”) 130. The client devices 140-180 may be anysuitable computing or communications device that have audio or videocapability. For example, client devices 140-160 may be conventionalcomputing devices, such as desktop or laptop computers having processorsand computer-readable media, connected to the video conference provider110 using the internet or other suitable computer network. Suitablenetworks include the internet, any local area network (“LAN”), metroarea network (“MAN”), wide area network (“WAN”), cellular network (e.g.,3G, 4G, 4G LTE, 5G, etc.), or any combination of these. Other types ofcomputing devices may be used instead or as well, such as tablets,smartphones, and dedicated video conferencing equipment. Each of thesedevices may provide both audio and video capabilities and may enable oneor more users to participate in a video conference meeting hosted by thevideo conference provider 110.

In addition to the computing devices discussed above, client devices140-180 may also include one or more telephony devices, such as cellulartelephones (e.g., cellular telephone 170), internet protocol (“IP”)phones (e.g., telephone 180), or conventional telephones. Such telephonydevices may allow a user to make conventional telephone calls to othertelephony devices using the PSTN, including the video conferenceprovider 110. It should be appreciated that certain computing devicesmay also provide telephony functionality and may operate as telephonydevices. For example, smartphones typically provide cellular telephonecapabilities and thus may operate as telephony devices in the examplesystem 100 shown in FIG. 1 . In addition, conventional computing devicesmay execute software to enable telephony functionality, which may allowthe user to make and receive phone calls, e.g., using a headset andmicrophone. Such software may communicate with a PSTN gateway to routethe call from a computer network to the PSTN. Thus, telephony devicesencompass any devices that can make conventional telephone calls and isnot limited solely to dedicated telephony devices like conventionaltelephones.

Referring again to client devices 140-160, these devices 140-160 contactthe video conference provider 110 using network 120 and may provideinformation to the video conference provider 110 to access functionalityprovided by the video conference provider 110, such as access to createnew meetings or join existing meetings. To do so, the client devices140-160 may provide user identification information, meetingidentifiers, meeting passwords or passcodes, etc. In examples thatemploy a user identity provider 115, a client device, e.g., clientdevices 140-160, may operate in conjunction with a user identityprovider 115 to provide user identification information or other userinformation to the video conference provider 110.

A user identity provider 115 may be any entity trusted by the videoconference provider 110 that can help identify a user to the videoconference provider 110. For example, a trusted entity may be a serveroperated by a business or other organization and with whom the user hasestablished their identity, such as an employer or trusted third-party.The user may sign into the user identity provider 115, such as byproviding a username and password, to access their identity at the useridentity provider 115. The identity, in this sense, is informationestablished and maintained at the user identity provider 115 that can beused to identify a particular user, irrespective of the client devicethey may be using. An example of an identity may be an email accountestablished at the user identity provider 110 by the user and secured bya password or additional security features, such as biometricauthentication, two-factor authentication, etc. However, identities maybe distinct from functionality such as email. For example, a health careprovider may establish identities for its patients. And while suchidentities may have associated email accounts, the identity is distinctfrom those email accounts. Thus, a user's “identity” relates to asecure, verified set of information that is tied to a particular userand should be accessible only by that user. By accessing the identity,the associated user may then verify themselves to other computingdevices or services, such as the video conference provider 110.

When the user accesses the video conference provider 110 using a clientdevice, the video conference provider 110 communicates with the useridentity provider 115 using information provided by the user to verifythe user's identity. For example, the user may provide a username orcryptographic signature associated with a user identity provider 115.The user identity provider 115 then either confirms the user's identityor denies the request. Based on this response, the video conferenceprovider 110 either provides or denies access to its services,respectively.

For telephony devices, e.g., client devices 170-180, the user may placea telephone call to the video conference provider 110 to access videoconference services. After the call is answered, the user may provideinformation regarding a video conference meeting, e.g., a meetingidentifier (“ID”), a passcode or password, etc., to allow the telephonydevice to join the meeting and participate using audio devices of thetelephony device, e.g., microphone(s) and speaker(s), even if videocapabilities are not provided by the telephony device.

Because telephony devices typically have more limited functionality thanconventional computing devices, they may be unable to provide certaininformation to the video conference provider 110. For example, telephonydevices may be unable to provide user identification information toidentify the telephony device or the user to the video conferenceprovider 110. Thus, the video conference provider 110 may provide morelimited functionality to such telephony devices. For example, the usermay be permitted to join a meeting after providing meeting information,e.g., a meeting identifier and passcode, but they may be identified onlyas an anonymous participant in the meeting. This may restrict theirability to interact with the meetings in some examples, such as bylimiting their ability to speak in the meeting, hear or view certaincontent shared during the meeting, or access other meetingfunctionality, such as joining breakout rooms or engaging in text chatwith other participants in the meeting.

It should be appreciated that users may choose to participate inmeetings anonymously and decline to provide user identificationinformation to the video conference provider 110, even in cases wherethe user has an authenticated identity and employs a client devicecapable of identifying the user to the video conference provider 110.The video conference provider 110 may determine whether to allow suchanonymous users to use services provided by the video conferenceprovider 110. Anonymous users, regardless of the reason for anonymity,may be restricted as discussed above with respect to users employingtelephony devices, and in some cases may be prevented from accessingcertain meetings or other services, or may be entirely prevented fromaccessing the video conference provider 110.

Referring again to video conference provider 110, in some examples, itmay allow client devices 140-160 to encrypt their respective video andaudio streams to help improve privacy in their meetings. Encryption maybe provided between the client devices 140-160 and the video conferenceprovider 110 or it may be provided in an end-to-end configuration wheremultimedia streams transmitted by the client devices 140-160 are notdecrypted until they are received by another client device 140-160participating in the meeting. Encryption may also be provided duringonly a portion of a communication, for example encryption may be usedfor otherwise unencrypted communications that cross internationalborders.

Client-to-server encryption may be used to secure the communicationsbetween the client devices 140-160 and the video conference provider110, while allowing the video conference provider 110 to access thedecrypted multimedia streams to perform certain processing, such asrecording the meeting for the participants or generating transcripts ofthe meeting for the participants. End-to-end encryption may be used tokeep the meeting entirely private to the participants without any worryabout a video conference provider 110 having access to the substance ofthe meeting. Any suitable encryption methodology may be employed,including key-pair encryption of the streams. For example, to provideend-to-end encryption, the meeting host's client device may obtainpublic keys for each of the other client devices participating in themeeting and securely exchange a set of keys to encrypt and decryptmultimedia content transmitted during the meeting. Thus the clientdevices 140-160 may securely communicate with each other during themeeting. Further, in some examples, certain types of encryption may belimited by the types of devices participating in the meeting. Forexample, telephony devices may lack the ability to encrypt and decryptmultimedia streams. Thus, while encrypting the multimedia streams may bedesirable in many instances, it is not required as it may prevent someusers from participating in a meeting.

By using the example system shown in FIG. 1 , users can create andparticipate in meetings using their respective client devices 140-180via the video conference provider 110. Further, such a system enablesusers to use a wide variety of different client devices 140-180 fromtraditional standards-based video conferencing hardware to dedicatedvideo conferencing equipment to laptop or desktop computers to handhelddevices to legacy telephony devices. etc.

Referring now to FIG. 2 , FIG. 2 shows an example system 200 in which avideo conference provider 210 provides videoconferencing functionalityto various client devices 220-250. The client devices 220-250 includetwo conventional computing devices 220-230, dedicated equipment for avideo conference room 240, and a telephony device 250. Each clientdevice 220-250 communicates with the video conference provider 210 overa communications network, such as the internet for client devices220-240 or the PSTN for client device 250, generally as described abovewith respect to FIG. 1 . The video conference provider 210 is also incommunication with one or more user identity providers 215, which canauthenticate various users to the video conference provider 210generally as described above with respect to FIG. 1 .

In this example, the video conference provider 210 employs multipledifferent servers (or groups of servers) to provide different aspects ofvideo conference functionality, thereby enabling the various clientdevices to create and participate in video conference meetings. Thevideo conference provider 210 uses one or more real-time media servers212, one or more network services servers 214, one or more video roomgateways 216, and one or more telephony gateways 218. Each of theseservers 212-218 is connected to one or more communications networks toenable them to collectively provide access to and participation in oneor more video conference meetings to the client devices 220-250.

The real-time media servers 212 provide multiplexed multimedia streamsto meeting participants, such as the client devices 220-250 shown inFIG. 2 . While video and audio streams typically originate at therespective client devices, they are transmitted from the client devices220-250 to the video conference provider 210 via one or more networkswhere they are received by the real-time media servers 212. Thereal-time media servers 212 determine which protocol is optimal basedon, for example, proxy settings and the presence of firewalls, etc. Forexample, the client device might select among UDP, TCP, TLS, or HTTPSfor audio and video and UDP for content screen sharing.

The real-time media servers 212 then multiplex the various video andaudio streams based on the target client device and communicatemultiplexed streams to each client device. For example, the real-timemedia servers 212 receive audio and video streams from client devices220-240 and only an audio stream from client device 250. The real-timemedia servers 212 then multiplex the streams received from devices230-250 and provide the multiplexed streams to client device 220. Thereal-time media servers 212 are adaptive, for example, reacting toreal-time network and client changes, in how they provide these streams.For example, the real-time media servers 212 may monitor parameters suchas a client's bandwidth CPU usage, memory and network I/O as well asnetwork parameters such as packet loss, latency and jitter to determinehow to modify the way in which streams are provided.

The client device 220 receives the stream, performs any decryption,decoding, and demultiplexing on the received streams, and then outputsthe audio and video using the client device's video and audio devices.In this example, the real-time media servers do not multiplex clientdevice 220's own video and audio feeds when transmitting streams to it.Instead each client device 220-250 only receives multimedia streams fromother client devices 220-250. For telephony devices that lack videocapabilities, e.g., client device 250, the real-time media servers 212only deliver multiplex audio streams. The client device 220 may receivemultiple streams for a particular communication, allowing the clientdevice 220 to switch between streams to provide a higher quality ofservice.

In addition to multiplexing multimedia streams, the real-time mediaservers 212 may also decrypt incoming multimedia stream in someexamples. As discussed above, multimedia streams may be encryptedbetween the client devices 220-250 and the video conference system 210.In some such examples, the real-time media servers 212 may decryptincoming multimedia streams, multiplex the multimedia streamsappropriately for the various clients, and encrypt the multiplexedstreams for transmission.

In some examples, to provide multiplexed streams, the video conferenceprovider 210 may receive multimedia streams from the variousparticipants and publish those streams to the various participants tosubscribe to and receive. Thus, the video conference provider 210notifies a client device, e.g., client device 220, about variousmultimedia streams available from the other client devices 230-250, andthe client device 220 can select which multimedia stream(s) to subscribeto and receive. In some examples, the video conference provider 210 mayprovide to each client device the available streams from the otherclient devices, but from the respective client device itself, though inother examples it may provide all available streams to all availableclient devices. Using such a multiplexing technique, the videoconference provider 210 may enable multiple different streams of varyingquality, thereby allowing client devices to change streams in real-timeas needed, e.g., based on network bandwidth, latency, etc.

As mentioned above with respect to FIG. 1 , the video conferenceprovider 210 may provide certain functionality with respect tounencrypted multimedia streams at a user's request. For example, themeeting host may be able to request that the meeting be recorded or thata transcript of the audio streams be prepared, which may then beperformed by the real-time media servers 212 using the decryptedmultimedia streams, or the recording or transcription functionality maybe off-loaded to a dedicated server (or servers), e.g., cloud recordingservers, for recording the audio and video streams. In some examples,the video conference provider 210 may allow a meeting participant tonotify it of inappropriate behavior or content in a meeting. Such anotification may trigger the real-time media servers to 212 record aportion of the meeting for review by the video conference provider 210.Still other functionality may be implemented to take actions based onthe decrypted multimedia streams at the video conference provider, suchas monitoring video or audio quality, adjusting or changing mediaencoding mechanisms, etc.

It should be appreciated that multiple real-time media servers 212 maybe involved in communicating data for a single meeting and multimediastreams may be routed through multiple different real-time media servers212. In addition, the various real-time media servers 212 may not beco-located, but instead may be located at multiple different geographiclocations, which may enable high-quality communications between clientsthat are dispersed over wide geographic areas, such as being located indifferent countries or on different continents. Further, in someexamples, one or more of these servers may be co-located on a client'spremises, e.g., at a business or other organization. For example,different geographic regions may each have one or more real-time mediaservers 212 to enable client devices in the same geographic region tohave a high-quality connection into the video conference provider 210via local servers 212 to send and receive multimedia streams, ratherthan connecting to a real-time media server located in a differentcountry or on a different continent. The local real-time media servers212 may then communicate with physically distant servers usinghigh-speed network infrastructure, e.g., internet backbone network(s),that otherwise might not be directly available to client devices 220-250themselves. Thus, routing multimedia streams may be distributedthroughout the video conference system 210 and across many differentreal-time media servers 212.

Turning to the network services servers 214, these servers 214 provideadministrative functionality to enable client devices to create orparticipate in meetings, send meeting invitations, create or manage useraccounts or subscriptions, and other related functionality. Further,these servers may be configured to perform different functionalities orto operate at different levels of a hierarchy, e.g., for specificregions or localities, to manage portions of the video conferenceprovider under a supervisory set of servers. When a client device220-250 accesses the video conference provider 210, it will typicallycommunicate with one or more network services servers 214 to accesstheir account or to participate in a meeting.

When a client device 220-250 first contacts the video conferenceprovider 210 in this example, it is routed to a network services server214. The client device may then provide access credentials for a user,e.g., a username and password or single sign-on credentials, to gainauthenticated access to the video conference provider 210. This processmay involve the network services servers 214 contacting a user identityprovider 215 to verify the provided credentials. Once the user'scredentials have been accepted, the client device 214 may performadministrative functionality, like updating user account information, ifthe user has an identity with the video conference provider 210, orscheduling a new meeting, by interacting with the network servicesservers 214.

In some examples, users may access the video conference provider 210anonymously. When communicating anonymously, a client device 220-250 maycommunicate with one or more network services servers 214 but onlyprovide information to create or join a meeting, depending on whatfeatures the video conference provider allows for anonymous users. Forexample, an anonymous user may access the video conference providerusing client 220 and provide a meeting ID and passcode. The networkservices server 214 may use the meeting ID to identify an upcoming oron-going meeting and verify the passcode is correct for the meeting ID.After doing so, the network services server(s) 214 may then communicateinformation to the client device 220 to enable the client device 220 tojoin the meeting and communicate with appropriate real-time mediaservers 212.

In cases where a user wishes to schedule a meeting, the user (anonymousor authenticated) may select an option to schedule a new meeting and maythen select various meeting options, such as the date and time for themeeting, the duration for the meeting, a type of encryption to be used,one or more users to invite, privacy controls (e.g., not allowinganonymous users, preventing screen sharing, manually authorize admissionto the meeting, etc.), meeting recording options, etc. The networkservices servers 214 may then create and store a meeting record for thescheduled meeting. When the scheduled meeting time arrives (or within athreshold period of time in advance), the network services server(s) 214may accept requests to join the meeting from various users.

To handle requests to join a meeting, the network services server(s) 214may receive meeting information, such as a meeting ID and passcode, fromone or more client devices 220-250. The network services server(s) 214locate a meeting record corresponding to the provided meeting ID andthen confirm whether the scheduled start time for the meeting hasarrived, whether the meeting host has started the meeting, and whetherthe passcode matches the passcode in the meeting record. If the requestis made by the host, the network services server(s) 214 activates themeeting and connects the host to a real-time media server 212 to enablethe host to begin sending and receiving multimedia streams.

Once the host has started the meeting, subsequent users requestingaccess will be admitted to the meeting if the meeting record is locatedand the passcode matches the passcode supplied by the requesting clientdevice 220-250. In some examples additional access controls may be usedas well. But if the network services server(s) 214 determines to admitthe requesting client device 220-250 to the meeting, the networkservices server 214 identifies a real-time media server 212 to handlemultimedia streams to and from the requesting client device 220-250 andprovides information to the client device 220-250 to connect to theidentified real-time media server 212. Additional client devices 220-250may be added to the meeting as they request access through the networkservices server(s) 214.

After joining a meeting, client devices will send and receive multimediastreams via the real-time media servers 212, but they may alsocommunicate with the network services servers 214 as needed duringmeetings. For example, if the meeting host leaves the meeting, thenetwork services server(s) 214 may appoint another user as the newmeeting host and assign host administrative privileges to that user.Hosts may have administrative privileges to allow them to manage theirmeetings, such as by enabling or disabling screen sharing, muting orremoving users from the meeting, creating sub-meetings or “break-out”rooms, recording meetings, etc. Such functionality may be managed by thenetwork services server(s) 214.

For example, if a host wishes to remove a user from a meeting, they mayidentify the user and issue a command through a user interface on theirclient device. The command may be sent to a network services server 214,which may then disconnect the identified user from the correspondingreal-time media server 212. If the host wishes to create a break-outroom for one or more meeting participants to join, such a command mayalso be handled by a network services server 214, which may create a newmeeting record corresponding to the break-out room and then connect oneor more meeting participants to the break-out room similarly to how itoriginally admitted the participants to the meeting itself.

In addition to creating and administering on-going meetings, the networkservices server(s) 214 may also be responsible for closing andtearing-down meetings once they have completed. For example, the meetinghost may issue a command to end an on-going meeting, which is sent to anetwork services server 214. The network services server 214 may thenremove any remaining participants from the meeting, communicate with oneor more real time media servers 212 to stop streaming audio and videofor the meeting, and deactivate, e.g., by deleting a correspondingpasscode for the meeting from the meeting record, or delete the meetingrecord(s) corresponding to the meeting. Thus, if a user later attemptsto access the meeting, the network services server(s) 214 may deny therequest.

Depending on the functionality provided by the video conferenceprovider, the network services server(s) 214 may provide additionalfunctionality, such as by providing private meeting capabilities fororganizations, special types of meetings (e.g., webinars), etc. Suchfunctionality may be provided according to various examples of videoconferencing providers according to this description.

Referring now to the video room gateway servers 216, these servers 216provide an interface between dedicated video conferencing hardware, suchas may be used in dedicated video conferencing rooms. Such videoconferencing hardware may include one or more cameras and microphonesand a computing device designed to receive video and audio streams fromeach of the cameras and microphones and connect with the videoconference provider 210. For example, the video conferencing hardwaremay be provided by the video conference provider to one or more of itssubscribers, which may provide access credentials to the videoconferencing hardware to use to connect to the video conference provider210.

The video room gateway servers 216 provide specialized authenticationand communication with the dedicated video conferencing hardware thatmay not be available to other client devices 220-230, 250. For example,the video conferencing hardware may register with the video conferenceprovider 210 when it is first installed and the video room gatewayservers 216 may authenticate the video conferencing hardware using suchregistration as well as information provided to the video room gatewayserver(s) 216 when dedicated video conferencing hardware connects to it,such as device ID information, subscriber information, hardwarecapabilities, hardware version information etc. Upon receiving suchinformation and authenticating the dedicated video conferencinghardware, the video room gateway server(s) 216 may interact with thenetwork services servers 214 and real-time media servers 212 to allowthe video conferencing hardware to create or join meetings hosted by thevideo conference provider 210.

Referring now to the telephony gateway servers 218, these servers 218enable and facilitate telephony devices' participation in meetings hosedby the video conference provider 210. Because telephony devicescommunicate using the PSTN and not using computer networking protocols,such as TCP/IP, the telephony gateway servers 218 act as an interfacethat converts between the PSTN and the networking system used by thevideo conference provider 210.

For example, if a user uses a telephony device to connect to a meeting,they may dial a phone number corresponding to one of the videoconference provider's telephony gateway servers 218. The telephonygateway server 218 will answer the call and generate audio messagesrequesting information from the user, such as a meeting ID and passcode.The user may enter such information using buttons on the telephonydevice, e.g., by sending dual-tone multi-frequency (“DTMF”) audiosignals to the telephony gateway server 218. The telephony gatewayserver 218 determines the numbers or letters entered by the user andprovides the meeting ID and passcode information to the network servicesservers 214, along with a request to join or start the meeting,generally as described above. Once the telephony client device 250 hasbeen accepted into a meeting, the telephony gateway server 218 isinstead joined to the meeting on the telephony device's behalf.

After joining the meeting, the telephony gateway server 218 receives anaudio stream from the telephony device and provides it to thecorresponding real-time media server 212, and receives audio streamsfrom the real-time media server 212, decodes them, and provides thedecoded audio to the telephony device. Thus, the telephony gatewayservers 218 operate essentially as client devices, while the telephonydevice operates largely as an input/output device, e.g., a microphoneand speaker, for the corresponding telephony gateway server 218, therebyenabling the user of the telephony device to participate in the meetingdespite not using a computing device or video.

It should be appreciated that the components of the video conferenceprovider 210 discussed above are merely examples of such devices and anexample architecture. Some video conference providers may provide moreor less functionality than described above and may not separatefunctionality into different types of servers as discussed above.Instead, any suitable servers and network architectures may be usedaccording to different examples.

Referring now to FIG. 3 , FIG. 3 shows an example system 300 forcapturing and presenting audience response at scale. The example system300 includes multiple client device 320 a-c, which allow participants toaccess video conferences facilitated by the video conference provider310, such as over network 330. Video conference provider 310 storesvarious information regarding scheduled video conferences and otherinformation in data store 312.

In the embodiment shown, users utilize client devices 320 b-c to accessa video conference. During the video conference, those users provide aplurality of responses 340 a-b. For example, the users may applaudduring portions of the video conference. Alternatively, the users mayprovide voice responses during the video conference. The plurality ofresponses is received by video conference provider 310 via the network330.

The video conference provider 310 may then analyze the various responses340 a-b. For example, the video conference provider 310 may take samplesperiodically from the responses 340 a-b to determine characteristics ofthe responses, such as the frequency or magnitude of each of theresponses. Then, based on the analysis, the video conference providercan generate a consolidated response 342 and cause that response to beoutput on the client device 320 a. The consolidated response isdifferent than a response that would be output by simply combining theplurality of response input signals received from each participant. Inother words, the input signals are not simply combined in raw form andthen output together as would be done in a conventional system.

For example, the video conference provider may receive applause fromclient devices 320 b-c. Video conference provider can then sample theapplause to determine the frequency and magnitude of the applause fromeach device. The video conference provider can then compare that tosynthesized applause stored in data store 312 to determine whichsynthesized applause best represents the plurality of responses 340 a-breceived from the client devices 320 b-c. Determine the mostrepresentative applause may involve using a machine learning model thataccepts the response characteristics as input and provides thesynthesized applause in response.

Referring now to FIG. 4 , FIG. 4 shows an example GUI for videoconference software that may be executed by one or more client devicesaccording to this disclosure and is described in relation to the systemillustrated in FIG. 3 . In this example, the GUI 400 executing on clientdevice 320 a includes a speaker view window 402 that presents thecurrent speaker in the meeting. Above the speaker view window 402 aresmaller participant windows 404, which allow the user to view otherparticipants in the main meeting, as well as controls (“<” and “>”) tolet the user scroll to view other participants in the meeting.

Beneath the speaker view window 402 are a number of interactive elements410-428 to allow the host to interact with the video conferencesoftware. Controls 410-412 may allow the host to toggle on or off audioor video streams captured by a microphone or camera connected to thehost client device. Control 420 allows the participant to view any otherparticipants in the meeting with the user, while control 422 allows theuser to send text messages to other participants, whether to specificparticipants or to the entire meeting. Control 424 allows the user toshare content from their client device. Control 426 allows the user totoggle recording of the meeting, and control 428 allows the user toselect an option to join a breakout room.

In this particular example, the host of the meeting is viewing thevarious other participants 430-450. Each of the participants 430-450 mayprovide responses during the host's presentation. For example, while thehost is presenting, each of the participants 430-450 may applaud,respond verbally, or click on a control to indicate a reaction to thepresentation. In the example shown, the individual responses are muted,i.e., the host will not hear the individual responses as they are madeby the participants. Instead, the video conference provider 310 willreceive each of the plurality of responses and then generate aconsolidated response which will then be output by the user interface400 on the client device 320 a.

Referring now to FIG. 5 , FIG. 5 shows an example method 500 forcapturing and presenting audience response at scale. This example method500 will be discussed with respect to the example system 300 shown inFIG. 3 ; however, any suitable system according to this disclosure maybe employed according to various examples, including the systems 100,200, 700 shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 7 .

At block 510, the video conference provider 310 receives a plurality ofresponses from the participants in the video conference. The responsesmay include feedback such as applause, verbal feedback, visual feedback,such as a thumbs up gesture, or feedback based on the user clicking acontrol on their device. In some example systems, the feedback isidentified as such and is muted so that it cannot be heard by otherparticipants on the video conference. For example, the user may havemuted themselves using a control on the video conference interface sothat none of the participant's audible actions can be heard byparticipants in the video conference. Alternatively, the softwareexecuting on the client device may be capable of identifying feedback,such as by identifying a sound with a frequency and magnitude thatmatches applause, and muting the feedback automatically but leaving theremainder of the audio feed unaffected.

At block 520, the video conference provider 310 samples each of theplurality of responses to identify response characteristics, i.e.,characteristics of the received response during the sampling period. Forinstance, the video conference provider 310 may determine that applausetypically ranges between 0.1 and 10 kHz, depending on how theparticipant is clapping. Thus, the video conference provider 310 wouldset a sampling rate optimized to accurately capture such signals. Thevideo conference provider 310 may capture various properties orcharacteristics of the response. For example, the video conferenceprovider 310 may capture the frequency and magnitude of the response.Other characteristics of applause might include the cadence, octave, orresonance of a particular response. Similar characteristics may bepresent for other types of responses. For example, a laugh would includea frequency and a magnitude, identifying it as a loud or quiet laugh.The video conference provider 310 is then able to determine informationabout the response based on those characteristics. For example, thevideo conference provider might provide the magnitude and the frequencyof the response as inputs into a machine learning model that has beentrained to identify various types of responses based on thesecharacteristics. Other known methods for identifying such responses mayalso be used.

In the example shown in FIG. 5 at block 530, the video conferenceprovider assigns a subgroup to each of the plurality of responses. Forinstance, the video conference provider 310 might utilize the relativevirtual position of a participant in the video conference to assign agrouping, such as left, center, or right to a particular response. Suchsubgroups could then be used to layer the various responses later in theprocess.

At block 540 assign, the video conference provider 310 assigns apriority to each of the plurality of responses. The priority could, forexample, be a number between 1 and 10, indicating the importance of theaudience member. In other examples, the priority could be assigned todifferent types of response. For instance, a response provided via acontrol on the user interface may receive a relatively higher prioritythan a verbal response, depending on parameters set by the videoconference provider 310 or by the users.

At block 550, the video conference provider 310 generates a scoreassociated with each of the plurality of responses. For example, a loudclap may be associated with a high score since it indicates a strongerapproval of the content. Similarly, a loud oral response may be assigneda high score. Alternatively, the user may be able to provide a numericindicator that can be used by the video conference provider 310 togenerate the score. For instance, the user might select from threeratings—low, middle, high—indicating the user's approval of particularcontent of the video conference, which the video conference provider 310can then use to generate the score assigned to the response.

At block 560 the video conference provider generates a consolidatedresponse that is based at least in part on the response characteristics,or information generated from the characteristics, such as the subgroup,the priority, and/or the score associated with particular responses. Theconsolidated response might, for example, be a generated applausegenerated by layering the participants clapping and that resembles agroup clapping in the room in which the host is sitting. In anotherexample, various consolidated responses may be created and stored in thedata store. Then, when the consolidated response is to be generated, thevideo conference provider 310 can retrieve one or more of the storedconsolidated responses by querying the database. In one example, thevideo conference provider 310 utilizes a machine learning model toidentify a previously-generated consolidated response to provide to auser.

At block 570, the video conference provider 310 causes the consolidatedresponse to be output. For instance, the video conference provider 310may transmit the consolidated response to a client device 320 a. Thenclient device 320 a can output the consolidated response via, forexample, speakers that are embedded in or connected to client device 320a. The consolidated response that is output is reflective of a pluralityof responses received from participants in the video conference.

While the process illustrated in FIG. 5 shows a single iteration ofreceiving responses and using them to generate a consolidated response,may iterated the process shown continuously during a video conference toprovide ongoing consolidated feedback to the host. Further, varioussteps shown in the process of FIG. 5 may be omitted and additional stepsadded without changing the nature of the illustrated process.

Referring now to FIG. 6 , FIG. 6 shows an example computing device 600suitable for use in example systems or methods for hiding private userdata in public signature chains for user authentication in videoconferences according to this disclosure. The example computing device600 includes a processor 610 which is in communication with the memory620 and other components of the computing device 600 using one or morecommunications buses 602. The processor 610 is configured to executeprocessor-executable instructions stored in the memory 620 to performone or more methods for capturing and presenting audience response atscale according to different examples, such as part or all of theexample methods 400-600 described above with respect to FIGS. 4-6 . Thecomputing device 600, in this example, also includes one or more userinput devices 650, such as a keyboard, mouse, touchscreen, microphone,etc., to accept user input. The computing device 600 also includes adisplay 640 to provide visual output to a user.

In addition, the computing device 600 includes video conference software660 to enable a user to join and participate in a video conference, suchas a conventional meeting or webinar, by receiving multimedia streamsfrom a video conference provider, sending multimedia streams to thevideo conference provider, joining and leaving breakout rooms, such asdescribed throughout this disclosure, etc.

The computing device 600 also includes a communications interface 640.In some examples, the communications interface 630 may enablecommunications using one or more networks, including a local areanetwork (“LAN”); wide area network (“WAN”), such as the Internet;metropolitan area network (“MAN”); point-to-point or peer-to-peerconnection; etc. Communication with other devices may be accomplishedusing any suitable networking protocol. For example, one suitablenetworking protocol may include the Internet Protocol (“IP”),Transmission Control Protocol (“TCP”), User Datagram Protocol (“UDP”),or combinations thereof, such as TCP/IP or UDP/IP.

While some examples of methods and systems herein are described in termsof software executing on various machines, the methods and systems mayalso be implemented as specifically-configured hardware, such asfield-programmable gate array (FPGA) specifically to execute the variousmethods according to this disclosure. For example, examples can beimplemented in digital electronic circuitry, or in computer hardware,firmware, software, or in a combination thereof. In one example, adevice may include a processor or processors. The processor comprises acomputer-readable medium, such as a random access memory (RAM) coupledto the processor. The processor executes computer-executable programinstructions stored in memory, such as executing one or more computerprograms. Such processors may comprise a microprocessor, a digitalsignal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit(ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and state machines. Suchprocessors may further comprise programmable electronic devices such asPLCs, programmable interrupt controllers (PICs), programmable logicdevices (PLDs), programmable read-only memories (PROMs), electronicallyprogrammable read-only memories (EPROMs or EEPROMs), or other similardevices.

Such processors may comprise, or may be in communication with, media,for example one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, that maystore processor-executable instructions that, when executed by theprocessor, can cause the processor to perform methods according to thisdisclosure as carried out, or assisted, by a processor. Examples ofnon-transitory computer-readable medium may include, but are not limitedto, an electronic, optical, magnetic, or other storage device capable ofproviding a processor, such as the processor in a web server, withprocessor-executable instructions. Other examples of non-transitorycomputer-readable media include, but are not limited to, a floppy disk,CD-ROM, magnetic disk, memory chip, ROM, RAM, ASIC, configuredprocessor, all optical media, all magnetic tape or other magnetic media,or any other medium from which a computer processor can read. Theprocessor, and the processing, described may be in one or morestructures, and may be dispersed through one or more structures. Theprocessor may comprise code to carry out methods (or parts of methods)according to this disclosure.

The foregoing description of some examples has been presented only forthe purpose of illustration and description and is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed.Numerous modifications and adaptations thereof will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of thedisclosure.

Reference herein to an example or implementation means that a particularfeature, structure, operation, or other characteristic described inconnection with the example may be included in at least oneimplementation of the disclosure. The disclosure is not restricted tothe particular examples or implementations described as such. Theappearance of the phrases “in one example,” “in an example,” “in oneimplementation,” or “in an implementation,” or variations of the same invarious places in the specification does not necessarily refer to thesame example or implementation. Any particular feature, structure,operation, or other characteristic described in this specification inrelation to one example or implementation may be combined with otherfeatures, structures, operations, or other characteristics described inrespect of any other example or implementation.

Use herein of the word “or” is intended to cover inclusive and exclusiveOR conditions. In other words, A or B or C includes any or all of thefollowing alternative combinations as appropriate for a particularusage: A alone; B alone; C alone; A and B only; A and C only; B and Conly; and A and B and C.

1. A method comprising: Receiving, by the video conference provider, aplurality of responses during a time period, the plurality of responseseach provided by one of a plurality of participants in a videoconference hosted by a video conference provider; sampling, by the videoconference provider, the plurality of responses to identify a pluralityof response characteristics; generating, by the video conferenceprovider, a plurality of subgroups of responses, each corresponding to aportion of the plurality of responses; generating, by the videoconference provider, a response layer corresponding to each of theplurality of subgroups; generating, by the video conference provider, aconsolidated response based at least in part on the plurality ofresponse characteristics, wherein generating the consolidated responsecomprises combining the response layers; and causing, by the videoconference provider, the consolidated response to be output to at leastone of the plurality of participants.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising muting, by the video conference provider, each of theplurality of responses from an audio feed of the video conference. 3.The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of responses comprises aplurality of audio responses and the plurality of responsecharacteristics includes a frequency and a magnitude of the response. 4.The method of claim 3, wherein generating the consolidated responsecomprises averaging, by the video conference provider, the frequency andthe magnitude across the plurality of audio responses.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein generating the consolidated responses comprisesdetermining, by the video conference provider, a previously-storedresponse associated with the plurality of response characteristics. 6.(canceled)
 7. The method of claim 14, wherein each response layer isassociated with a spatial characteristic.
 8. The method of claim 1,further comprising determining, by the video conference provider, ascore associated with at least some of the response characteristics. 9.The method of claim 8, wherein generating the consolidated responsefurther comprises utilizing the score to prioritize certain of theplurality of responses.
 10. The method of claim 8, wherein the score isassociated with an interest level and a time.
 11. The method of claim 1,wherein the plurality of responses is pre-recorded.
 12. A systemcomprising: a communications interface; a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium; and one or more processors communicativelycoupled to the communications interface and the non-transitorycomputer-readable medium, the one or more processors configured toexecute processor-executable instructions stored in the non-transitorycomputer-readable medium to: receive a plurality of responses during atime period, the plurality of responses each provided by one of aplurality of participants in a video conference hosted by a videoconference provider; sample the plurality of responses to identify aplurality of response characteristics; generate a plurality of subgroupsof responses, each corresponding to a portion of the plurality ofresponses; generate a response layer corresponding to each of theplurality of subgroups; generate a consolidated response based at leastin part on the plurality of response characteristics, wherein generatingthe consolidated response comprises combining the response layers; andcause the consolidated response to be output to at least one of theplurality of participants.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein the oneor more processors are configured to execute furtherprocessor-executable instructions stored in the non-transitorycomputer-readable medium to mute each of the plurality of responses froman audio feed of the video conference.
 14. (canceled)
 15. The system ofclaim 12, wherein the one or more processors are configured to executefurther processor-executable instructions stored in the non-transitorycomputer-readable medium to determine a score associated with at leastsome of the response characteristics.
 16. The system of claim 15,wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute furtherprocessor-executable instructions stored in the non-transitorycomputer-readable medium to generate the consolidated response utilizingthe score to prioritize certain of the plurality of responses.
 17. Thesystem of claim 15, wherein the score is associated with an interestlevel and a time.
 18. A non-transitory computer-readable mediumcomprising processor-executable instructions configured to cause one ormore processors to: receive a plurality of responses during a timeperiod, the plurality of responses each provided by one of a pluralityof participants in a video conference hosted by a video conferenceprovider; sample the plurality of responses to identify a plurality ofresponse characteristics; generate a plurality of subgroups ofresponses, each corresponding to a portion of the plurality ofresponses; generate a response layer corresponding to each of theplurality of subgroups; generate a consolidated response based at leastin part on the plurality of response characteristics, wherein generatingthe consolidated response comprises combining the response layers; andcause the consolidated response to be output to at least one of theplurality of participants.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 18, further comprising processor-executable instructionsconfigured to cause one or more processors to mute each of the pluralityof responses from an audio feed of the video conference.
 20. (canceled)